T-LAB functions used in this short example are those highlighted in red in the image on the right. For futher information about T-LAB functions click here. To consult more samples click here. To download the demo click here.

Francis Bacon became famous for laying the foundations of the inductive method, the basis of modern science, and of the experimental method which - in Italy - had an illustrious representative: Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).

For a first exploration of his most famous work (Novum Organum) we used one of T-LAB's tools: Co-Word Mapping.

This type of map shows the key words arranged systematically within a two-dimensional area. Each key word represents a small group of "associated" words, that is a small cluster of words co-occurring in the elementary contexts of the corpus (the sentences of the text). The two-dimensional area is organized along two axes (X-horizontal, Y-vertical) which, just as with topographical maps, represent the "compass points" (north-south, east-west) and therefore help to orientate the interpretation. In statistical terms, the two axes are factors.

As can be seen, the content of the book is organized on the basis of the contrast between two main themes: the "subjects" of observation (those typical of the science then in vogue: calor, spatium, motus) and its "methods" (inquisitio, interpretatio, scientia).
In order to verify the coherence of the data, with a simple click on the graph labels, we explored the composition of the following four clusters.

Subsequently, with another tool (Associations) we tried to verify the "local meaning" of two key words: SCIENTIA and EXPERIMENTUM.
In the following two graphs, the words examined are placed in the center and all the others are distributed around them, each at a distance proportional to its degree of association.
In other words, the meaningful relationships are only those between the central words and for each of the others its proximity to the center indicates the degree of association with the central words within the same sentences (the elementary contexts).
For every graph T-LAB provides a table with the relevant indices of association.

Finally, with the Concordances tool we have precisely examined the elementary contexts in which some words are used.

A click on each segment allows us to view the elementary context of reference. Also, it is possible to export a file with all the selected elementary contexts.